


Ignorance

by hornsbeforehalos



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Friendship, Jewish Original Female Character, Racial Ignorance, hannukkah
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 10:50:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16871572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hornsbeforehalos/pseuds/hornsbeforehalos
Summary: “Never cared ‘bout none o’ that. Yer a good person, s’all that matters.” he rasped, his eyes serious.She gave him another small smile, her eyes diverting downwards shyly for a moment before finding his again, “You’re a good person too, Daryl.”





	Ignorance

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own TWD or it's characters.  
> Don't steal my work.
> 
> Written for @bikerdaryldixon on tumblr for a contest.  
> Not intended to offend anyone, especially one of Jewish faith.

She fingered the pendant on her neck, her head down as she thought about all they’d lost. She rested her back against the fallen tree trunk, tears streaming down her face as she silently begged not to lose anyone else. 

Daryl puffed on his cigarette as he looked up from the steaming undercarriage of the old Ford they’d hot-wired in order to get back to Alexandria after the original vehicle they’d left in had a horrible end with a failed attempt at Glenn playing chicken with a walker. Sweat dripped from his greasy hair as he exhaled the plume of smoke and rasped, “Ya’ll gon’ help me or jus’ sit there with your heads up yer asses’?”

“Just give it a rest, man,” Glen sighed as he joined Kim, sitting on the wood and scrubbing his face, “Let’s just rest here for the night and figure it out in the morning.”

“Ya’ll ridiculous,” He drawled as he shook his head, closing the hood loudly. Kim jolted up instinctively, her fingers getting caught in the delicate chain and jerking it off her neck.

“Oh, no!” She whined, more tears filling her eyes as she inspecting the tiny broken clasp. She closed her fist over the necklace, bringing the hand to her mouth to muffle a sob. 

“The fuck is that?’“ Daryl snorted, his nose tipping to the end of the chain still dangling from her grasp. 

“Daryl, don’t be an asshole.” Glenn sighed again, shaking his head and rolling his eyes, “It’s her Star of David.”

“Yer a  _Jew_?” He asked, the word coming out like it left a bad taste in his mouth.

She narrowed her eyes in his direction and quirked her head to the side, a new found hatred for the man she’d thought had been a decent human being, “Is that a  _problem_  for you,  _redneck_?”

Daryl huffed a breath of annoyance at her tone, automatically defensive at his accidental offence. He really didn’t even mean to make it sound that way, he’d just never expected it from the woman. Hell, he’d never even  _met_  a Jewish person before.

“Just ignore him, Aliza,” Glenn stated, small smirk playing on his lips as he thought of Daryl when they’d first met, “He thought I was Chinese.”

“Well that’s not ignorance at his finest if I ever saw it.” She spat, rolling her eyes before squinting at Daryl again, “Of course it’s not like I should expect much, I guess.”

“An’ what’s that s’posed ta mean?” Daryl snarled, taking an intimidating step forward as he wiped the grease from his hands on the red rag from his back pocket.

“Daryl, stop,” Glenn prompted, holding a hand up and turning his body to see Aliza better, “You really gotta forgive him. He wasn’t necessarily raised in the most understanding of circumstances.”

“Ignorant Goyim like him are the reason why my people were gassed, Glenn, I don’t have to forgive _shit.”_

“I ain’t gotta deal wit’ this shit.” Daryl growled, tossing the rag on the hood of the truck before grabbing his crossbow from the cab and stomping off into the wooded area behind them. _  
_

* * *

Daryl trudged through the woods, internally berating himself for being so stupid. He hadn’t even thought about the words before they were already spilling from his mouth, instantly making him want to cringe when he heard himself. Honestly, truly, he really didn’t give a fuck, he never had. He’d just been pressured all his life to believe that someone else’s way of thinking was the correct one. 

He wasn’t sure how long he’d been walking, but suddenly it was dark. He almost ran smack into a tree before he realized what he had stumbled across. Deep in the woods was a wooden cabin, quiet and abandoned save for what appeared to be a half-eaten walker attempting to crawl with no success on what was left of its splayed arms. Daryl left the poor bastard be, walking around him before approaching the porch of the small house. Knocking on the window, he drew his bow and waiting for anything to come forward. When nothing did, he opened the unlocked door and stepped through. 

After checking the one roomed area and making sure it was clear, he lit a fire in the small fireplace and raided through the cabinets and drawers for anything useful. He found a few water bottles and a can of peaches, but besides that it was pretty bare. What did catch his eye though, was the metal candle holder in the corner of the room, illuminated brilliantly by the light of the flames. Biting his lip, Daryl picked up the menorah. He spun the base between his fingers for a moment, before gripping it tighter and shoving it in his bag. Maybe he could prove to Aliza that he wasn’t just a dumb Nazi redneck after all. 

* * *

“Daryl! Darrrryyyyyyyl!” Glenn shouted as they trekked through the trees, searching for the archer who’d wandered off, “Where the hell did he go?”

“Glenn, look,” Aliza pointed towards the hidden cabin, the smoke still pluming from the stack on top of the roof, “He’s probably in there.” 

Sure enough, at about the same time the two of them approached, Daryl stepped out, slinging his bow over his shoulder. His calculating eyes studied them for a moment before he rasped, “Ya’ll find a car?”

“Yeah, got it about half a mile back,” Glenn answered, adjusting his backpack, “You find anything in there?”

“Nah, nothin’ fer us.” He replied, starting off back into the forest as the others followed. 

* * *

The ride back to Alexandria was quiet, the tension from the day before still thick in the air. Daryl watched Aliza out of the corner of his eye the entire time, her short brown hair blowing in the wind from the open window. If Daryl was being honest with himself, he’d always had a harbor in his heart for the girl, which probably explained his inability to not make an ass out of himself whenever he turned around. He silently cursed his brother for his raising of him, shaking his head to himself at letting him still project ignorance long after the bastard had been dead. We wanted to apologize to the girl and explain to her that he really didn’t mean what he said, or  _how_  he said it, rather, he just wasn’t sure if he’d fucked it up to the point of no return or not. 

She hopped out of the vehicle quickly once they got through the gate, darting off to her house without a word. Daryl let a sigh of guilt rattle his body as he climbed out himself, shaking his head at his own stupidity. 

* * *

 

It was past dark and well into the night before Daryl finally got the balls to make the short walk to her house, climbing up the front porch steps to see the light inside still on. He rapped on the door gently and waited, hearing footsteps approach on the other side soon enough. 

The door cracked open and her wide eyes appeared, the barrier parting just enough for her head to poke through. She blinked twice before asking, “Can I help you?”

“Uh, naw…I uh….Hold on,” He stuttered, suddenly enamored with the sight of her for some  _unknown_  reason. He pulled his bag from his shoulder and opened it, holding up the menorah for her to see. He held it out for her to take, her lips parting slightly in awe as her eyes welled up with moisture, “Found this in that lil’ cabin. Ya’ll light the candles, righ’?”

Her eyes peeled away from the silver in her hands to meet Daryl’s with a small smile, choking on a laugh, “Yeah, we do. This is amazing, Daryl. Really, thank you. Tomorrow’s the last day of Hanukkah.” 

Daryl’s cheeks and ears burned with her gratitude, his chin dipping and his irises diverting to the ground, his hair covering his face. He scrubbed a scuff mark on the wood below him with the toe of his boot, biting his bottom lip before mumbling, “”M sorry I was a dick. Didn’ mean to be.”

Her eyes twinkled at his apology, something she figured was hard for a man like him. She knew deep down he was good, but suspected that his life hadn’t been the easiest, and that he probably held a lot of shit in. Her smile turned even bigger as she nodded her head, “Do you…do you wanna come in?”

He stood up a little straighter, shaking the fringe from his eyes and cleared his throat, “Uh, yeah, sure.”

She led him into the living room, placing the menorah on the mantle of the fireplace. Daryl stood in the middle of the area awkwardly, looking very much out of place. She snorted a she held back a laugh while observing him, shaking her head and suggesting, “You wanna have a seat?”

His eyes followed hers to where she pointed to the couch, and he grunted a reply before sitting down. She joined him on the other side, pulling her legs up underneath her and dragging a blanket from the back of the couch as she twisted side ways to look at him. He held his forearms on his knees, his hands clasped together in front of him as his knee bounced. He looked at her through the stringy strands covering his face.

“I rilly am s’ry. Didn’ come out the way I wanned.” He rasped, his head moving back forward to look down at his hands, “I ain’t ever met a Jew before.

She sighed, a slight roll of her eyes accompanied her grin, “Just say ‘Jewish person,’ Daryl, you sound disrespectful.”

He shook his head at himself, “Sorry. Again.”

“You’re forgiven. I take it you didn’t have much exposure to anything besides white Christians growing up?”

He nodded, bringing a hand up to his mouth to scrub his upper lip with a finger. She nodded back in understanding, picking at a piece of stray thread from her blanket, “I heard he was basically a Nazi.”

Daryl huffed out a breath before shaking his head and looking around the room absently, “Merle hated er’yone. No tolerance fer nuthin’.” He cleared his throat and brought his hands back together in his lap, “I uh… never really lis’ened to him talkin’ shit, but between him and my pa… guess some of it got on me.”

“Let me ask you a question, Daryl.” She started, adjusting herself in her position to sit up a little bit more, her irises meeting his as he looked up at her, “Do you care that I’m a Jew?”

“Never cared ‘bout none o’ that. Yer a good person, s’all that matters.” he rasped, his eyes serious.

She gave him another small smile, her eyes diverting downwards shyly for a moment before finding his again, “You’re a good person too, Daryl.”

He snorted a scoff of disbelief, her pretty brown eyes not letting go of his as she let herself huff a giggle, “You’re a lot better than some of the people I’ve met, even before the turn, Dixon. I’ve had to deal with shitty people all my life. S’why I reacted the way I did. I grew up having to be defensive.”

“I get that,” Daryl grunted, leaning back into the couch a bit more and turning to look at her, “Grew up like that too.”

Without thought, she reached her hand out, grasping his where it sat on his thigh. He was startled by her sudden touch, but didn’t pull away as she scootched closer to him for his undivided attention. She laced her fingers through his and he tightened his grip around them, giving her a small smile. His heart was hammering in his chest as her free hand touched he side of his face, the delicate smirk playing on her lips holding steady as she pulled him near her. She pressed her lips to his lightly for a moment, the feeling of his scruffy face tickling below her nose. She pulled away and grinned again, her thumb tracing his cheekbone, “Happy Hanukkah, Daryl.”


End file.
